Dehydrating vs Freeze Drying: Which is better for certain ingredients

[Johnny Thunder]

Hi,

I recently got an awesome dehydrator and wanted to try some things out. Basically, I'm looking to find out what items work well in the dehydrator and what is a lost cause. So far I've dehydrated a rice dish and a quinoa dish...both came out great. The chick peas in last night's chole masala, not so much.

Does it make sense to dehydrate a meal's sauce and add freeze dried meat/legumes/vegetables later? If so, which ones are absolutely necessary to use freeze dried?

[LaurieAnn]

I've had really great luck with Chana Masala which is basically the same thing. It takes awhile for the chickpeas to dry so allow for that. I use boiling water to rehydrate and wait 20 - 30 minutes and it's as good as before I dried it. Hope that helps.

I lean towards drying whole meals for the most part. It makes it easier at camp and you get much better flavor out of the dish.

Corn and peas take awhile to rehydrate so if you aren't up to waiting 30 minutes then I would go with freeze-dried.

The only really lost causes are sour cream, yogurt (unless making it as yogurt leather for a snack) and cottage cheese. That said, these items can be easily dried as secondary ingredients in a sauce or dish without issue.

[sarbar]

It really depends on what you want when making your meals.

Freeze dried meat is pricey but well worth it for cutting down weight and time required. Certain vegetables work better freeze dried (green beans, green peas, sweet corn for example). On legumes, precooked and dried work fine. Garbanzo beans (chick peas) are notorious for being slower in rehydrating - due to being so dense and thick.

Experiment, play around. You will find your sweet spot. Do check out both www.harmonyhousefoods.com and www.packitgourmet.com for items ready to use. Both have excellent service.

[Alligator]

I coarsely mash chickpeas in the dishes that I dehydrate, just enough so that there are none left round.

[HeartFire]

Get the book "Back Packers Gourmet" by Linda Frederick Yaffee. this will get you started in the right direction for using your dehydrator. I dehydrate whole meals - the pasta, sauce and all in one, that way all it needs is hot water on te trail. The meal is cooked to my liking (spiced the way I want it) so no need to bring along extra condiments like salt, hot sauce etc.

Things like the chickpeas need to be broken up a bit so they are not quite so large - mash them a little. I used to take home leftovers (or order extra portions) frommy favorite Indian restaurant just to put in the dehydrator. Nothing like having your favorite food on a cold night way out on the trail.